Why I Am Afraid to Call Myself a Feminist

As a 21st century female, I am given a lot of freedoms. Freedom to express myself, freedom to become whomever I want to be, and the freedom to pursue whatever goal I set for myself. In this day and age my dreams, unlike those of my female ancestors before me, can become a reality. I no longer must succumb to the cult of domesticity that dictated my role as subordinate to that of my male counterpart. If I want to become an engineer I can without much question against my abilities. I can become a CEO of a major financial firm, and if I really want to, I can even become the president of the United States. As Beyoncé eloquently put it “How we’re smart enough to make these millions/ Strong enough to bear the children/ Then get back to business.”

Even though women continue to make “72.2 percent of the Caucasian male they only fill 6.2 percent of top management positions, due to barriers such as stereotypical attitudes, ‘good ole boy networks’, and the ‘glass ceiling.’” However, in 2017, it’s no longer a man’s world. According to the Women’s Bureau of the United States Department of Labor 57% of all women are in the labor force, with 27% of jobs related to computer and mathematical occupations. This is great considering that just 40 years ago us women only represented 11% of the labor force. This number is expected to rise, especially as millions of young girls like me are now finally given the window of opportunity to become who we want to be. There is no time better than now for us girls to become the women we aspire to become.

There is a small catch. Although I am given a lot of freedoms, there is one I am robbed of — the freedom to call myself a feminist.

Over the years the word feminist has waged its own war between what it actually is versus what people think it is. Feminism, unfortunately, is perceived as women against men. Feminists hate men. The word now carries this radical connotation that now makes righteous females like Katy Perry pledge she’s not a feminist, when she clearly is one if she’s going to say that she “believes in the strength of women.” According to Merriam-Webster, the dictionary definition of the word ‘feminist’ is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes” or “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.” Now here’s the big question how did the word get so warbled to be something it’s absolutely not?

To start off it’s where we get our information. I must accept that I can be biased at times. It angers me to read articles that degrade the institution calling it a mode of victimization or that feminists are pit against men. But the problem is that people get so caught up in trying to degrade the other side that when we are faced with the word we have no idea what it means. Here’s an exercise. If you google “feminism bad” you can find an array of misandrist and misogynist articles that illustrate how the word carries a negative meaning. Google “feminist good” and you will find several articles on why feminism can help society.

There is a reason as to why feminist among several choices, the most common including, “egalitarianist”, or “humanist,” was chosen. An egalitarian or humanist do stand for feminist ideals, but the whole point of feminism is understanding that women and men are not viewed equally in our society. For example, it is never a feminist’s goal to mandate all male CEOs leave their jobs so that women can take them. They would rather see the stigma against stay-at-home dads to be eradicated. Rather than having women earn more money than men, they would like to see that men and women are receiving equal pay and respect for doing the same job. This is the goal of a feminist, however society — whether feminist or not — recoils.

“Feminist” is more exact and precise in its nature. It has an honorific history originating when it was first coined féminisme by Utopian socialist Charles Fourier, used first in the English language in the 1890's. The word bases its accuracy with which it describes the values of the institution: women and men deserve the same rights. “Egalitarian,” by contrast implies that everyone doesn’t have equal rights by an all powerful force (the world is not run by a supreme totalitarian), and it is the egalitarianism job in order to provide opportunities to everyone, even those who already have them, in the road of life. This is where it start’s to get messy as this is where many start to believe that this is the true role of a feminist. Let me once again state that our job is to ensure that all men and women are not tied down to gender barriers. The reason as to why we get labeled as lenient towards females is because females tend to usually get the short end of the stick. For example, in an Huffington Post article about domestic violence, it was found that 85% of domestic violence victims were women. 1 in 4 women will be victims of domestic violence in their lifetimes. The number is smaller for men with 15% of domestic violence victims being men and the statistic being 1 in 7 being probable domestic violence victims. With statistics like this, no wonder it seems as though feminists are attacking men. But let me just say, we aren’t campaigning to just stop female domestic abuse. We want to help stop all domestic abuse.

Humanist creates a disparity between definition and perception. Vaguely coined, the word is a hopeful attempt to mollify the true meaning of feminism. in the same attempt, that translated cripples to handicapped then to disabled, and finally to “differently abled”. At the end of the day, people who are crippled continue to have lost functionality in their limbs. The truth doesn’t comply with the hopefulness of language. The true definition of this word leans towards the idea that there is some supernatural human problem that is not yet solved. Although this is partially true it’s not supernatural that women and men are never held to the same standard in any society. For example, in America there is no being that dictated that it was socially odd for the female to be the sole breadwinner. That’s just society and a warped sense of values.

As a feminist I believe in the title and I believe in the cause. But I will never stand on the top of the Empire State Building and proclaim I am a feminist. Once I say I’m a feminist I’m labeled a misandrist, which to me seems so verbally fallacious of its inability to describe the reality of who I am. I am in accordance with George Orwell’s concept that “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.” Feminism in its accuracy is who and what I am. Until you figure that out I will stand by in the pile of misnomers you have made for me out fear, knowing that not one can truly define the very thing I am — a feminist.